The Montreal Canadiens are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and to help commemorate this milestone, the league has awarded Montreal the right to host the All-Star Game.
Fans have the power to vote for the starting lineup, but many argue the Montreal fans have gone overboard which has led to four out of six starters being Canadiens.
Many fans feel this result detracts from the “may the best man win” spirit of the game because the best players aren’t starting.
Compare the stats of the Montreal players that made it with the non-Habs who were excluded. Montreal defenseman Mike Komisarek (who has missed over 15 games so far) has one goal, three assists, and is a +5. He is an all-star instead of Washington’s Mike Green (11 goals, 19 assists, +14), and Boston’s Dennis Wideman (8 goals, 21 assists, +25).
Boston’s Phil Kessel is the top-scoring right wing in the Eastern Conference with 24 goals and 41 points. He is not an all-star.
Then there’s Montreal’s Alexei Kovalev, who currently has 11 goals and 21 assists—good enough to rank 19th in the league among right wingers. It’s probably no coincidence given that Kessel is a member of the Boston Bruins, a main rival of the Canadiens. But Kovalev has not only beaten out better players with the help of his hockey-mad fans; he has been inserted in the starting lineup ahead of players like Alex Ovechkin, who many say is the best player in the league.
And it’s not just the non-Habs fans that feel they are being shorted. The players and coaches are upset too.
Bruce Boudreau, coach of the Washington Capitals, told the Associated Press (AP) that not having Ovechkin in the starting lineup was “dumb,” adding, “I don’t agree with the process. People would much rather see the best players in the world.”
Jose Theodore, a former all-star and member of the Canadiens, also feels the system is flawed. When asked his opinion on the lineup, the Montreal native told AP, “There are some stars but not all the stars … the league should really review the system.”
Sometimes giving all the power to the fans isn’t the best thing to do.
Samuel Wheale is based in Vancouver, Canada.
